Dolores Price
232 MB
A2019-037
1890-1945 (unknown)
Dolores Price has spent a lifetime perfecting her art. She has studied under Robert E. Wood, Millard Sheets, and Edgar “Ed” Whitney. Dolores passed away on August 26, 2025. Dolores Price moved to Kingsville, Texas in 1973 where she started an art studio and gallery called Kairos Gallery. She has taught and continues to teach art classes there. She has had many exhibitions and has won numerous awards for her artwork. She primarily paints in acrylics and watercolors. She considers her style as Semi-Impressionistic.
Dolores Price was a signature member of several watercolor societies, including the Southwestern Watercolor Society; the Watercolor Society of South Texas; the South Texas Art League; the Watercolor Society of Houston; and the Western Foundation of Watercolor Societies. Her work has been widely exhibited in one-woman shows. She proudly created artwork for Texas A&M’s Legacy Ball invitations and fundraisers for twelve years, and she leaves behind several pieces for future invitations. Her artistic philosophy emphasized transparency, color chords, design, rhythm, movement, contrast, mystery, and responding emotionally to subject matter. She regarded her art as a kind of ministry. Dolores taught weekly lessons at her studio for more than 30 years. Her students, whom she considered extended family, remember her classroom as a place filled with laughter, learning, and deep friendships.
Millard Owen Sheets (1907-1989) is best known for his 30 foot mosaic on the Mercantile Continental Building in downtown Dallas (1959), Word of Life Mural on the side of the Hesburgh Library at the University of Notre Dame (1964), The Negro’s Contribution in the Social and Cultural Development of America (1943) on the first floor of the Main Interior Building in Washington DC, and Tenement Flats (1934) in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Edgar Whitney (1891-1987) is one of the most well represented artists in the collection, and a dear friend of Dr. and Mrs. McMullen. He was first a painter, and second a teacher, and he would conduct painting workshops throughout the US. He lectured at the Pratt Institute, NYU, and the Colombia Graduates Club. Several artists in the collection cite Edgar Whitney as one of their most influential teachers.
Robert E. Wood (1926-1999) was acknowledged as one of the premier California Watercolorists to emerge during the postwar era. The personal style for which be become well-known, was clearly developing. While most of his works have been painted with transparent watercolors, he also freely incorporated opaque colors or other complimentary mediums if they improved a specific work of art. His paintings often balance areas of pure abstraction with stylized, but recognizable subject matter. Throughout his career, he divided his time between painting outdoors and working inside his studio.
The collection covers some of Dolores Price’s life as an artist while in Kingsville, Texas (1973-2019). Her collection consists of 50 of her paintings, artist statements, family photographs, newspaper articles on her artistic achievements, and an oral interview with Dolores looking back on her development as an artist.
The collection has eight series:
Series I: President's Legacy Ball Artwork
Series II: Price Family and Friends Photographs
Series III: Art Studio
Series IV: Sellers Market
Series V: Dolores Price Paintings
Series VI: Artist Statements
Series VII: Shows and Awards
Series VIII: Oral History
South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
Open for Research
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Dolores Price Collection, A2019-037.XXXX, South Texas Archives, James C. Jernigan Library, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
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A2019-037 – Gift of Dolores Price
Oral interview was done in November 2019. The collection was processed by Daniel Thacker in November of 2019. All items were given back to Dolores Price and digital surrogates were made. The Finding Aid was created and EAD document encoded by Daniel Thacker in November of 2019. Posters and additional items were received in 2023 and processed by Carmen Martinez.